'Full steam ahead' for Glacier Town Center

1,500 construction jobs planned for first phase

Wolford Development is proceeding with the first phase of Glacier Town Center, recession or not.

"We're moving full steam ahead regardless of the current economic situation," said Chad Wolford, vice president of the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company.

The first phase includes a 600,000-square-foot outdoor shopping complex, anchored by three stores of about 100,000 square feet each. It will cover more than 190 acres of the 485-acre Glacier Town Center site east of U.S. 93 and north of West Reserve Drive in Kalispell.

It's depicted as a lifestyle center rather than a mall because it's a mixed-use development that combines the traditional retail shopping features of a mall with housing neighborhoods.

Ground could be broken on the project in mid- to late summer.

"At this point we're still working on that schedule," Wolford said, "but it took us a little longer to get through the city process. We're getting our working drawings finished" and still evaluating whether the grading can be done in time to get the buildings "dried in" so that construction can continue through the winter.

It's difficult to say exactly how long the site preparation will take, he said.

"On a site and project this big, the construction is moving in a wave through the site," Wolford said. "We start on one end and move one way or the other across the site, with sewer and water behind it. …We'll be grading on the last portion while we start the first buildings."

The goal, Wolford said, is to go from groundbreaking to finished project in 18 months.

Several tenants have been "nailed down" for the lifestyle center, though Wolford declined to name names. Anchor tenants typically make their own announcements when they're ready, he said.

Four years ago, when the project was planned as an enclosed mall, Herberger's and Dillard's planned to build anchor stores at Wolford's development.

The first phase of Glacier Town Center will include 75 to 85 stores, with 20 to 30 "out-parcels" proposed for individual businesses.

More than 600 homes are planned in later phases that could be affected by a national economic downturn.

"Those [homes] are three to five years down the road, regardless of any recession," Wolford said.

All totaled, Glacier Town Center's plans call for 282 single-family houses, 150 townhouses and 200 apartments, and 1.823 million square feet of office and commercial space to be built over the next 20 years.

The project will be divided into five construction phases.

THE DESIGN of the lifestyle center will reflect rustic, lodge-style architecture typical of Northwest Montana.

"We're very sensitive to local municipalities' design features and what's considered appropriate for the area," Wolford said.

Architecture Plus of Monroe, La., is designing the center; Chattanooga-based Morgan Construction is the general contractor. Morgan will bring in a few workers, but the company will subcontract much of the construction to local firms, Wolford said.

"We're looking at 1,500-plus [construction] jobs, and that's a conservative estimate for the first phase," he said. "Throughout the entire project, there will be probably 3,000 people there over time."

Using a retail-industry standard of two jobs created for every 1,000 square feet, Wolford estimates Glacier Town Center, once it's built, will generate 1,200 ongoing jobs. A manager/marketing director will be hired six months prior to the center opening.

WOLFORD Development has other lifestyle centers in the works in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., and Ames, Iowa.

The Shops at Lake Havasu, a 750,000-square-foot town center, opened anchor stores Dillard's and JCPenney in early March. Other stores will open throughout the coming months, Wolford said, noting the Lake Havasu community's strong support from Day One.

"The first visit we ever made to Lake Havasu was in 2003," he said. "Five years later, the project is opening and the city is thrilled about what we have delivered.

"By contrast, the first visit we made to Kalispell was in 1999. Nine years later, we haven't turned a spade of dirt," Wolford said, alluding to a series of legal actions that hamstrung the Kalispell project for several years.

Wolford's Iowa project, The Shops at East Prairie, is scheduled to open in late summer 2009.

"It's about on the same schedule as Kalispell, maybe a little behind," Wolford said. "They're still evaluating" the construction schedule there. That 250-acre development will include about 1 million square feet of retail, dining and entertainment venues.

GETTING THE go-ahead to build the Kalispell mall has been a hard-fought battle for Wolford Development.

Wolford Development President Bucky Wolford first announced plans to build a 750,000-square-foot regional shopping mall in Evergreen in January 2000. His seemingly endless journey through the planning process began in July 2001 and wound through a series of public hearings with the Planning Board, the commissioners and the Kalispell City Council before being stymied by a procedural lawsuit filed in summer 2002.

Six months later, Wolford shifted the Glacier Mall location to a 481-acre site north of the intersection of U.S. 93 and West Reserve Drive and northwest of Semitool's manufacturing plant.

By 2004 the project was stymied by two lawsuits.

One lawsuit, filed by the North 93 Neighbors citizen group, challenged the validity of a master plan amendment and zone change approved by the Flathead County commissioners in 2003; a separate legal action before the Montana Supreme Court addressed the issue of who could sign a petition seeking a public vote on the plan amendment.

The state high court ruled in favor of the county on most legal points in both lawsuits; a later out-of court settlement resolved other issues.

In February 2007, parties involved in the lawsuit signed a memorandum of understanding that outlined steps to be taken to finally settle the legal action.

Among other items, the agreement required Wolford Development to have Kalispell annex the entire project site and redesign the mall into a pedestrian-friendly lifestyle center.

Flathead County agreed to amend its land-use policies and practices to "enhance and encourage meaningful public participation in government decisions," according to the memorandum.

Although the intent to dismiss the suit was signed a year and a half ago, North 93 Neighbors still is waiting for lawyers to complete the final paperwork, North 93 spokeswoman Sharon DeMeester said.

The commissioners last week passed a resolution to clear their portion of the lawsuit.

THE LAST bit of controversy - the locations of traffic lights - will be decided by the Montana Department of Transportation.

The city planning staff and Citizens For A Better Flathead opposed traffic lights on U.S. 93 in the vicinity of Glacier Town Center, arguing the lights would slow traffic too much on an arterial highway intended to be a limited-access road.

Wolford will submit information for access permits to the state for final review.

"We want a good resolution," said Mayre Flowers of Citizens For A Better Flathead. "We assume MDOT will be working with them to follow the guidelines. A decision of this nature will need additional study. …The bottom line is that all parties are looking to find a win-win solution."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com